Santander chooses Succession star for commercial banking push

Santander’s corporate and commercial banking arm has launched a new integrated marketing campaign designed to appeal to senior leaders at high growth businesses.

“It’s not who you know, but who you don’t know yet” is a TV-led campaign designed by London-based creative agency, House 337. It features actor Brian Cox who is best known for his role in Sky Atlantic drama Succession.

The TV advertisement shows a series of moments where potential business partners narrowly miss meeting each other, losing out on business opportunities. The ad states that Santander UK’s Corporate & Commercial Banking division can assist businesses to building their networks.

The TV element launched on 3 June 2023, and was supported by out-of-home campaigns, press, social media, digital display and assets on show in Santander branches. Print ads started in The Sunday Times on 4 June 2023.

“This is the first time we have deployed television advertising to raise awareness of our corporate and commercial banking business,” said Santander UK marketing director, Dan Sherwood.

Jo Moore, executive creative director at House 337 said the script flipped the old adage ‘it’s about the people you know’.

She added: “That, combined with the gravitas of Brian’s delivery and Tom ‘The King’s Speech’ Hooper’s storytelling, allowed us to create an advert that is very different to the rest of the market.”